Many different designs for shovels have been developed over the years. Most existing shovels are comprised of a blade or scoop, either straight or curved, with an edge on the bottom of the blade to help load the material onto the shovel blade. A shaft is connected to the top of shovel blade and may also be connected to a handle at its free end. A shovel is designed to move various volumes and weights of materials, such as dirt, gravel, snow, slush, or other debris. However, the amount of material that a shovel may displace is limited by the surface area of the blade or scoop and height of the load on the blade.
A shovel is generally used by applying a moving force to the handle of the shovel which is connected to a shaft that extends at an angle of approximately 30 to 45 degrees from the surface to be shoveled. The shovel is then moved underneath the material to hold a desired load and then the load is displaced by the user. On shovels of the general design described herein, the upward lifting force by a user—usually with one hand placed on the shaft usually midway between the shovel blade and handle—must be greater than the weight of the load and the weight of the shovel due to the effect of the dual cantilever beam from the load to the pivot of the hand lifting upward. This upward force causes a counter-clockwise rotation that is counteracted by a downward force using the free hand by the user on the handle to minimize or stop the rotation of the shovel or else the shovel blade will drop and the load will slide off onto the ground. The downward force is necessary to counteract the torque that is due to the distance of the load times the force necessary pushing downward by the free hand of the shovel's operator.
New designs for shovels have been developed that employ two handles—a primary handle that extends from the primary shaft where the primary shaft extends from the top of the shovel blade and a secondary handle that extends from a shaft that is connected to the shovel blade at a different location than the primary shaft or that is connected towards the primary shaft's blade end.
Ricket, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0042458 relates to a two-handed shovel that has a first handle that connects to the shovel blade and a second handle that attaches to the blade at a permanent connection point in front of a load. Ricket specifies that the connection point can be attached by a pin, ball joint, U joint (or other mechanical fasteners).
Helton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,324, is directed towards a shovel with improved lifting means that includes a shovel blade having a material transporting surface and an opposite side rear surface wherein one end of a handle is attached. A second handle, i.e., a lifting bar, is attached to the material transporting surface by a ball and socket connection.
Sims, U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,672, relates to a snow shovel having a conventional blade and handle that includes an auxiliary handle attached to the shovel by means of a resilient and/or flexible cord. The ends of the auxiliary cord may be secured to holes in the shovel blade by means of hooks on the end of the cord.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,444 to Kaufman teaches a two handed shovel for clearing a surface, wherein the shovel comprises a blade having a leading edge which contacts the surface, a main handle attached to the blade, and an auxiliary handle pivotally attached to the blade near the leading edge. Kaufman further specifies that the auxiliary handle is attached to side lugs that are located near either end of the blade's leading edge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,305 to Revoldt discloses a snow shovel that has a long handle with a shovel blade at the lower end of the long handle. A shorter handle is pivotally mounted at the long handle's lower end by a clamp that has a pair of pivot elements for engaging the lower end of the short handle.
The present invention is related to an improved, more convenient shovel attachment that will reduce the stress placed on a person's muscles, joints, back, spine, and heart while shoveling. In addition the attachment will reduce the amount of force required to lift and displace the load.